Troubadour is the generic term for poets and
minstrels who flourished in southern France and in Northern Italy from
the 11th through the 13th centuries. Called trouveres in northern France
and meistersingers in Germany, these artists elevated storytelling as
an art, and often entertained huge crowds at fairs, weddings and other
medieval celebrations.

During this time, works from medieval monks
had become tired. The public wasn't as interested in hymns, chronicles
and treatises penned in medieval Latin. These new stories were sang, while
music was played on strange, new musical instruments, brought back to
Western Europe from the Crusades. Verses became quite complex in style
and ranged in topics from satire, love, and politics, to debates, laments
and spinning songs.

French lords wanted to hear tales of bravery
about their own countrymen, and ladies were being swept away with epic
love poems, as they practiced the rituals of Courtly Love. Professional
singers who performed work penned by a troubadour were called jongleurs,
and they might be accompanied by ioculators (jesters) and ystriones (actors).

Minstrels were found in every social class,
with wealthy or noble troubadours traveling like royalty from town to
town.